TCM Schedule for Friday, March 20, 2020 -- What's On Tonight: It's A Gamble

Last edited Mon Mar 23, 2020, 07:34 PM - Edit history (1)

In the daylight hours, it's a crime spree! Then in prime time, TCM has a trio of films about gamblers in love. Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- A CRIMINAL IS BORN (1938)
This short film tells the story of how a young man starts a crime spree which leads to murder.
Dir: Leslie Fenton
Cast: Dave Durand, Norman Phillips Jr., Dorothy Vaughan
BW-20 mins,

The 17th short in the Crime Does Not Pay series.


6:45 AM -- BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
The legendary bank robbers run riot in the South of the 1930s.
Dir: Arthur Penn
Cast: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard
C-111 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Estelle Parsons, and Best Cinematography -- Burnett Guffey

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Warren Beatty, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Faye Dunaway, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Gene Hackman, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Michael J. Pollard, Best Director -- Arthur Penn, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- David Newman and Robert Benton, Best Costume Design -- Theadora Van Runkle, and Best Picture

While they were shooting Bonnie and Clyde's confrontation in the fields after she tries to run away from the gang, a cloud passed over the sun, casting an unexpected shadow over Faye Dunaway's face. Rather than re-shoot the scene, Arthur Penn kept it in as a means of foreshadowing the character's tragic end.


8:45 AM -- THEY LIVE BY NIGHT (1949)
After an unjust prison sentence, a young innocent gets mixed-up with hardened criminals and a violent escape.
Dir: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Cathy O'Donnell, Farley Granger, Howard Da Silva
BW-95 mins, CC,

The film's opening action sequence was shot by a helicopter camera, placed on a gyro-stabilized mount. At the time of this production, aerial helicopter photography was quite uncommon. Although helicopters had been used in filming by 1947, mainly for aerial views or landscapes, this is one of the first times an action scene was filmed from the sky. The most difficult thing about it was to keep the actors in focus. It took them four takes; they eventually chose the second one.


10:30 AM -- GUN CRAZY (1950)
Two disturbed young people release their fascination with guns through a crime spree.
Dir: Joseph H. Lewis
Cast: Peggy Cummins, John Dall, Berry Kroeger
BW-87 mins, CC,

The bank heist sequence was done entirely in one take, with no one outside the principal actors and people inside the bank aware that a movie was being filmed. When John Dall as Bart Tare says, "I hope we find a parking space," he really meant it, as there was no guarantee that there would be one. In addition, at the end of the sequence someone in the background screams that there's been a bank robbery--this was actually a bystander who saw the filming and assumed the worst.


12:15 PM -- BADLANDS (1973)
A young tough guy and his teen-aged girlfriend take off on a killing spree.
Dir: Terrence Malick
Cast: Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates
C-94 mins, CC,

Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez (Martin Sheen's sons) feature film debut. Uncredited, both play boys under a lamppost.


2:00 PM -- THE HONEYMOON KILLERS (1969)
A lonely nurse and her gigolo lover murder a string of widows.
Dir: Leonard Kastle
Cast: Shirley Stoler, Tony LoBianco, Mary Jane Higby
BW-108 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

This film is based on the actual case of Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, dubbed "The Lonely Heart Killers". The pair was suspected of murdering up to 20 women between 1947 and 1949. They were ultimately convicted of only one murder, that of Janet Fay - the only case that went to trial. Both were executed by the electric chair at Sing Sing on March 8, 1951.


4:00 PM -- BREATHLESS (1960)
A small-time hood hides out from the cops with his American girlfriend.
Dir: Jean-Luc Godard
Cast: Jean Seberg, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Liliane David
BW-90 mins,

According to Jean-Pierre Melville, Godard asked him for consultation during the post-production stage because the first edit was too long for distribution. Melville suggested Godard remove all scenes that slowed down the action (his own turn as novelist Parvulesco included). But instead of excluding entire scenes, Godard cut little bits from here and there. This led to the "jump cut" technique this movie introduced. Melville declared the result to be excellent.


5:45 PM -- THE GETAWAY (1972)
When a bank robbery goes bad, an ex-con and his wife take it on the lam.
Dir: Sam Peckinpah
Cast: Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw, Ben Johnson
C-123 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The orange Volkswagen Beetle that Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw pass as they flee town after the bank heist is driven by James Garner. Garner had been visiting a friend on the shoot and was hired for his vehicular skills by stunt coordinator Carey Loftin.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: IT'S A GAMBLE



8:00 PM -- A BIG HAND FOR THE LITTLE LADY (1966)
A pioneer woman replaces her ailing husband in a poker game after he loses most of their money.
Dir: Fielder Cook
Cast: Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards Jr.
C-95 mins, CC,

This film provides the final screen appearance of comedian Chester Conklin, who had appeared in about 300 movies from 1913.


10:00 PM -- FRANKIE AND JOHNNY (1966)
A riverboat gambler has to choose between his true love and the woman who's his lucky charm.
Dir: Frederick De Cordova
Cast: Elvis Presley, Donna Douglas, Nancy Kovack
C-87 mins, CC,

Several retakes were required because Elvis' form fitting slacks were judged to be too revealing, but the cost of re-filming crowd scenes was considered to be too expensive, and so Elvis and his bulge were occasionally left intact.


11:45 PM -- ANY NUMBER CAN PLAY (1949)
The owner of a gambling casino tries to win back his estranged wife and child.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Clark Gable, Alexis Smith, Wendell Corey
BW-103 mins, CC,

Writer Richard Brooks was originally penciled in to direct but was taken off the picture after Clark Gable was cast. He recalls he was told, "Well, now it's a Gable picture, and you can't expect to direct Gable.


2:00 AM -- ACROSS 110TH STREET (1972)
Two New York City cops go after amateur crooks who are trying to rip off the Mafia and start a gang war.
Dir: Barry Shear
Cast: Frank Adu, Frank Arno, Joe Attles
BW-101 mins, CC,

Anthony Quinn hoped to cast Sidney Poitier as Lt. Hope, Harry Belafonte as Jim Harris and Sammy Davis Jr. as Henry J. Jackson. However, the community of Harlem objected to these choices, as they were from Hollywood and not the city streets, so they doubted their ability to accurately portray city life. Quinn relented, and cast Yaphet Kotto, Paul Benjamin and Antonio Fargas, respectively.


3:45 AM -- SUPER FLY (1972)
A cocaine dealer tries to pull off one big score so he can get out of crime.
Dir: Gordon Parks Jr.
Cast: Ron O'Neal, Carl Lee, Sheila Frazier
C-91 mins, CC,

Priest's Cadillac Eldorado was owned by K.C., the pimp who makes an appearance in the nightclub scene. The deal was that he would get a part in the movie in exchange for use of his car. At the film's 40th-anniversary screening, held at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, NY, K.C. revealed that his customized Cadillac was eventually seized by the IRS.


5:30 AM -- GANG BOY (1954)
In this short film, a police officer tries to prevent a gang war by bringing the rival groups together over dinner.
Dir: Arthur Swerdloff
Cast: Curly Riviera,
C-27 mins,

Based on a true story of a truce between Anglo and Mexican gangs in Los Angeles, California in the early 1950s. The Anglo and Mexican gangs are played by the actual Anglo and Mexican gangs who reached the truce. The gangs had script supervision, went by their own actual names and nicknames, and chose who would play which role.